If you recently searched for a suitable printed media on which to print your photography, you must have felt quite overwhelmed. Printing media in the form of photo paper is gaining from improvement in chemicals, ink and paper production, that makes the decision as to the best photo paper for the job harder than it used to be. These improvements Continue Reading
The post Choosing Paper To Print Your Photography appeared first on Photodoto.
A Guest Post by Sergey Sus/
Overnight trips with other photographers make for a great time to talk and explore photography techniques.
Writing a tutorial is the best test of how well you understand a topic. To start, pick something you feel you know really well.
Taking a walk with a camera is a great advice, yet taking a walk with other photographers is better advice.
A website is still the best way to display and curate your work. If you don’t have a site or portfolio – make one as cultivating your work in a single place keeps it organized.
Use a project to fuel creativity and try new concepts. For example take photographs at 1/15 shutter speed or shooting a single color only, letters of alphabet etcÖ
Becoming a subject of another photographer and doing some posing will put you on the other side of the camera. Give it a try even if you are a landscape photographer.
Once you know the rules – take opportunities to break them! Yes, shoot the opposite of what the rules says to do.
There are so many workshops and so many topics – there must be a reason. Workshops are not only for beginners they are for all skill levels. I take them to improve in marketing, writing and photography.
Look through photos taken some time ago. I bet that you will find some forgotten gems. Take some of the older photographs and try processing them again.
Sergey Sus is a Los Angeles based photographer telling telling real stories, individual, professional and family. Problem solver, artist and teacher. His work can be found on http://www.sergeys.us/.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
9 Photography Ideas to Fuel Your Photographic Journey
One of the most popular deals in last years ’12 Deals of Christmas’ promotion that we ran here on dPS was a discount on Neil Creek’s ‘Night Photography Unlocked’ video course.
This week I’m excited to say that we’ve brought the deal back and you can now pick up this fun course at 31% off the normal price over at our sister site – SnapnDeals.
Neil is the author behind our best selling Photo Nuts series of eBooks and is a great teacher.
His beginners course will help you open up a whole new world of photographic possibilities as you learn to shoot in low light.
You’ll learn:
This video course is for those who own all types of cameras and is delivered to you in 21 great tutorials with over 4 hour of teaching.
Get more information and pick up your discounted enrolment in Night Photography Unlocked here today.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Get 31% Off Neil Creek’s Night Photography Course
Panning in photography is the act of capturing objects on the move. It’s like in sports or action photography. Your target is moving at the moment of exposure. As a result, you get a picture with a subject clearly caught on camera. However, the rest remains blurred in the background. To be honest, panning is nothing new. Panning has been Continue Reading
The post Capture Objects on the Move: 77 Awesome Panning Photography Ideas appeared first on Photodoto.
These days you are most likely to find me wandering the streets of London with a Leica M Monochrom hanging from my neck. Street photography and Leica have been inextricably linked for decades and this is solely down to Leica’s M system camera and its rangefinder focus mechanism.
This is not to say that you cannot be a street photographer without a rangefinder camera or, transversely, that you cannot shoot anything but the streets with a Leica. It is simply that this style of camera is the preferred tool of the serious street photographer.
If you’re unfamiliar with Rangefinders, the name is simply a reference to the distance oriented method by which you focus the lens. You are presented, within the viewfinder, 2 overlapping versions of the scene and as you turn the lens to find focus, the overlapping images merge together into one, at which point you are focused!
It does raise the question of why use a Leica rangefinder once you realize the camera is pretty much manual. Focusing, especially, is an entirely manual exercise. My camera will struggle to reach 4 fps. The viewfinder is essentially just a viewing frame where the image does not travel through the lens and is not related to the focal length either. It is just a ‘window’ for you to frame the shot. Side stepping image quality, there’s more and improved functionality out there in the DSLR world. And the cost?! US$ 13000 for a Camera, lens, spare battery and a strap!
It just doesn’t make sense, does it?!
I actually traded my entire ‘bag’ of Canon bodies and lenses for this camera, never more convinced this was the system for me. I have always been a manual photographer, actively disliking AF for its constant need to slave my compositions to specific points in the frame. The mirror system means bodies are big and lenses, good quality lenses, are bulky too. Compare a Canon 5D Mark II and a Leica Monochrom, each with a 35mm f/2 lens, and the Leica is 2/3s the weight and I dare say the size too. Factor in shutter noise and you are a lot more conspicuous in a crowd with a DSLR.
Rangefinder cameras, generally much smaller, quieter and inconspicuous than their DSLR counterparts aren’t just the subjective opinions of a few desperate fans. I recently read that quite a few US court rooms dictate that cameras, “… shall produce no greater sound than a 35mm Leica “M” Series rangefinder camera.”.
For most of you, I concede, not the right camera. For me? Definitely. I want lightweight, quiet, inconspicuous and excellent image quality.
I plan exactly where I will take photographs. My style is slightly minimalist and the contextual environment is paramount. With a history oriented to architecture photography, I am picky about my backgrounds.
Of course many locations are new to me and, once I get there, I have to establish the best vantage points. How and precisely where are the people interacting with this place?
So I wait. And watch. I am largely ignored and, for all intents and purposes, I don’t look the least bit ‘professional’ just have a compact camera around my neck.
After a few minutes I know where to focus and do so in readiness.
And… nothing!
I can’t count the occasions where the people who are at the scene or walking through it are simply doing just that. If the scene is extraordinary, then the people ignoring it make a good composition. How dare they not notice how wonderful the building behind them is?! Otherwise it will just make a dull photograph.
Patience does pay off and, eventually, you are rewarded with a great image.
I did mention the downsides of using an entirely manual set up, but there are distinct advantages. The boy, in the image above, ran through the fountains only once. He didn’t think he’d be caught by the water jets as they erupted and he reacted so quickly and ran to escape, but I got the shot. I’d already focused my lens and was just hanging around needing only to point at my chosen scene and press the shutter.
Did you realize that, with a full frame camera, set an aperture of f8 focused to a distance of 3m away and everything will be in focus from 2m to 10m? This is called zone focusing and allows me to focus without lifting camera to eye. Very stealthy! Why 3m away? I am frequently around this distance from a subject when I want to take their photo.
This business man was clearly checking his phone, probably for emails, whilst smoking his fat cigar. He couldn’t stand still, so I waited, wondering whether he’d step on the larger steps. A good result!
Whatever your camera, there is some helpful advice I can pass on after learning some hard lessons.
Have a plan, even if it is, “I’m going to walk from place A to B”. Before I head out, I put together a list of interesting places, items, or a theme. When it has rained, I will always look for reflections in puddles. Either way I look for reflections in the windows of buildings. Lately, I have been interested in phone boxes and graffiti.
Be like the tourist, walk confidently, look and stare. Whilst everyone seems to be able to see the skulking photographer, camera clutched at chest height, no one pays the tourist attention… unless they get in your way, which they quite frequently do! Be bold, see your shot, stand firm and take it. If the subjects see you, wave and smile and walk away. Like a tourist!
Look around you. Simply taking random snapshots of ordinary people in normal life situations is not going to be rewarding for very long. Additionally, think about the viewer of your photograph too – what will they see from your image? As I walk around I look at the buildings and signs, graffiti, bill boards and giant posters. People in front of these can be a great juxtaposition. So look around you and mentally picture a person, or a group, as a foreground subject. Is it worth waiting a few minutes to see if anyone interesting turns up?
I hope this article gives a glimpse into life with a rangefinder camera which, for me at least, is the perfect camera.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Life With A Rangefinder, Plus Street Photography Tips.
The 6th Annual iPhone Photography Awards has announced its winners, celebrating smartphone images across 16 categories of mobile photography. The top three winners of the Photographer of the Year category each received an iPad Mini while the top entry from each category won a gold bar. We take a look at the award winners on connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Image by Eric May
Last week I was speaking with an amateur photographer who told me that he’s been struggling for photographic inspiration and ideas lately.
He reflected that he felt like he’d become something of a lazy photographer and was in a bit of a rut – always photographing the same things in the same ways.
I shared a number of ideas from my own experiences of seeking photographic inspiration (some of which I’ll share below) but it struck me halfway through the conversation that a lot of the ideas I was suggesting was actually about him limiting himself in his photography in some way – in order to find inspiration.
Let me explain by looking at 5 photography ideas that I shared with him.
Note: by no means am I suggesting that these are the only ways to get inspired – they’ve just helped me at times.
I wrote about this recently in a challenge here on dPS. The idea is to choose a focal length and only shoot at it for a period of time.
While many of us have become used to (or reliant upon) shooting with a zoom lens – there’s something about shooting with a prime lens (fixed focal length) that makes you think about the composition of your shots a little more.
So choose a focal length that you don’t shoot at much and stick with it for a week and see how you go (and if you don’t have a prime lens to do this with – use your zoom but simply stick at one end of its range for a week).
Variation: another option for this is to choose a lens that you may not have used much before. Many photographers buy multiple lenses but then stick with one, ignoring others. Alternatively swap lenses with a friend for a week or even try renting one for a short period.
Image by Paul G
I was out shooting with a photography enthusiast friend recently and was amazed at the number of shots he took. At one point we were photographing his son (who was quietly playing with lego) and my friend shot off a burst of 20 or so shots at 4 frames per second.
Considering his son was sitting still and only really moving his fingers for those few seconds I did wonder at the need to shoot so many shots.
Of course I also know the temptation – shooting heaps of shots is easy to do. It doesn’t really cost you anything (although fills up hard drives pretty quick) and some might think it increases your chance of capturing the perfect moment.
The problem is that when you rely upon the quantity of your shots to improve the quality of your images that you can easily become lazy and complacent.
Here’s my challenge – next time you go out on a shoot – limit yourself to 36 shots (the number in a roll of film). In doing so you’ll find yourself really thinking about your shots. You’ll time them better and make sure each shot counts!
Image by Alan Antiporda
Speaking of old school film photography – do you remember that feeling when you got to the end of shooting a roll of film and wondering how your shots would turn out?
You’d put the film in for processing and wait a week or so for them to be ready and then go to the photo lab with anticipation… rip open the package and go through them one by one – reliving the moments you captured a week or so ago?
I love that digital photography gives us instant access to the images we take – but sometimes I wonder if by having that little screen on the back of our cameras we might be missing something from the experience of photography?
There are certainly advantages of being able to quickly review our shots or compose them on a larger screen – but similarly to my point above on shooting lots of shots I wonder if the instant review could be making us a little lazy? We’ll just keep taking shots till we’re happy.
I personally also find myself looking at my camera a whole lot more than I am looking at the scene in front of me and wonder if some of the joy of the moment could be lost.
So try this – turn off your LCD screen. Some cameras let you do this in your settings while others might take a little self discipline to do this – but I’d be interested to see what impact it has.
Image by Shazeen Samad
Shooting recently with the Leica M9-P (a fully manually focused camera) reminded me how little I shoot with manual focus these days.
I admit it – I’ve become lazy and have relied too much upon Auto Focus.
Shooting with the M9-P also reminded me how focusing manually can open up all kinds of possibilities. Just thinking about your focus rather than relying upon those 21 auto focal points your camera has (or how every many there are) puts you in a different frame of mind.
I find shooting in manual focusing mode makes me slow down a little, consider my shots and get a little more creative.
So switch to Manual Focusing and see what impact it has on your photography! I’d love to hear how it goes for you in comments below.
Image by Travis Lawton
I was flicking through some of my shots recently in Lightroom and as the images opened in front of me I noticed something that I’d not considered much before. Almost every shot I’d taken over a month or so had been taken at the maximum aperture of the lenses I was using.
I was shooting wide open almost all of the time.
There were a number of reasons for this – partly I shoot a fair bit indoors where the extra aperture lets more light in – but I guess it is also part of my style. I love narrow depth of field shots – bokeh is my friend.
However I wondered whether by shooting wide open so much I perhaps was ignoring other possibilities. Perhaps some of my portrait work would have been better if I shot with a smaller aperture and included more in focused backgrounds to give my subjects context (environmental portraits).
For the next week I began to shoot with a smaller Aperture – it was challenging at first and I wanted to give up – but at the end of the week I realised I was again being more thoughtful with my shots and had expanded the possibilities of styles at my fingertips when shooting.
These are about half of the ideas I shared with my friend – I’ll write up the others in the coming week – but in the mean time I’d love to hear ideas from others too. What do you do when you find yourself in a photography rut needing inspiration?
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
5 Ideas to Kick Start Your Photography Again
This week we’ve published a couple of posts that relate to the topic of Family so thought it might be a good theme for our weekly challenge.
We’d love you to set aside some time this week to photograph a family member (or a close friend if you’re unable to be with family this week).
You’re welcome to photograph one of them or a group – either in a posed setting, candidly, in an environmental portrait or in any way that suits you (and them).
Here’s a few posts from the last week and further back in our archives to help get your thinking:
Once you’ve photographed a family member
Once you’ve taken your Family photo upload it to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to do so.
If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSFAMILY to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.
Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks Converging Lines challenge – there were some great shots submitted.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Family: Weekly Photography Challenge
  |
|||
Late at night, we slide on our headphones and furiously type a succession of zeros and ones.
It’s by the end of the first Prodigy track that we realize we have absolutely no idea what we’re doing.
That’s why we leave the hacking to the hackers. Just a couple days ago, Photo Hack Day 2013 brought the best of them to a 24-hour hackathon in Berlin.
Last time, we told you all about Helmut, the fastest film scanner in the world, before it was even released.
In this edition, you’ll find out about all the raddest new photo apps thought up by clever young developers.
We’re talking apps that’ll teach your cat to shoot selfies and apps that turn your photos into spectacular light shows. Hackers were cool in 1995, but we think they’re even cooler in 2013!
The Best from Photo Hack Day 2013
p.s. Our pals at Inkling (they make rad photography how-to eBooks) are dropping knowledge with a free chapter on any topic you dig. Check ‘em out here.(…)
Read the rest of The Latest in Photo App Hacks — An App That Teaches Your Cat Photography & More! (672 words)
© lisbeth for Photojojo, 2013. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags:
Photography is like anything else in our culture; it tends to hold certain trends for periods of time, then changes based on variables around us. Some trends can reappear, such as we’ve seen with the influx of “vintage” post-processing in the last few years. The style wasn’t imposed directly during the 60′s and 70′s, it was a result of the Continue Reading
The post Expand Your Arsenal with the 5 Most Popular Photography Techniques Today appeared first on Photodoto.
You must be logged in to post a comment.